Learning Your Fantasy Setting

Too true. For me, worldbuilding is like trying to pull one feather out of a pillow. I always wind up with a big handful of stuff that I don't know what to do with all of it, and no way to put it back. At least when that happens with Torn World, I can get karma for writing it up as an article.

I can do it either way. If I'm starting with characters or a plot idea, I look at what is already perceptible from there and work toward extrapolating general principles from the details. If I'm starting with a raw setting, I usually start with the star or planet scale, then continents; or if I only need a smaller piece, a continent or country. When I build a brick shithouse, it usually has 3-inch armor plating just in case of hailstorms.